Illegal gangmaster Dean Currie fined for supplying workers to pick potatoes in Fife
Dean Currie, 33, pocketed more than 拢6,000 after lying to farm owners, claiming he held a gangmaster licence to supply workers when that was not the case.
Thursday 7 December 2023 10:04, UK
A farm labourer who acted as an illegal gangmaster has been fined 拢400.聽
Dean Currie, 33, pocketed more than £6,000 for illegally supplying workers to pick potatoes at a number of farms in Fife.
Currie lied to farm owners, claiming he held a gangmaster licence to supply workers when that was not the case.
Those supplying workers into the regulated sectors of agriculture, horticulture, shellfish gathering, and any associated processing and packaging must be licensed by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA).
Currie's crimes came to light in October 2021 when the GLAA received reports that he may have been supplying workers into the regulated sectors without a licence.
The probe confirmed Currie did not possess a gangmaster licence to provide workers - in contravention of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA).
A number of farm owners told how Currie lied to them when confronted over his possession of an accredited GLA licence.
He told one farmer that he held a licence but later claimed he could not get one because he had a criminal conviction.
Currie, of Leven, pleaded guilty to an offence under the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004 at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court on 25 October.
He returned to the dock on Wednesday where he was fined £400 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £20.
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Helen Nisbet, procurator fiscal for Tayside, Central and Fife, said: "The gangmaster legislation introduced a licencing system to ensure vulnerable workers are not taken advantage of.
"Dean Currie lied over his failure to secure a proper gangmaster's licence and instead chose to act as an unlicensed gangmaster.
"In doing so he committed a serious offence and participated in a black market which leaves some of the most vulnerable people in society at risk of exploitation.
"The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) is committed to working with partners such as the GLAA to ensure that those people who break the law in our regulated sectors are brought to justice."